News Evidence

[HisMindinme]

News organizations are like any other business. The motivation is a combination of making money and professional pride in a product. The money part is plain enough. The pride part is human and gets murky, but it is discernable.

NOTE: I am only using the "News" because it is easily available, verifiable and something we're all familiar with.

I have a basic premise and I think it is evidenced in the titles given to news articles. The premise is: Our minds produce thoughts and from the thoughts automatically come emotions. Our bodies respond to our thoughts and emotions by producing various chemicals (i.e. dopamine and others). It doesn't matter if the thoughts and emotions are rational or irrational, the net effect is the same: The production of "reward" chemicals, which chemistry becomes the driver or our motivating factor in producing more and more of the same thoughts and emotions to keep the flow of "reward" chemicals flowing.

See: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...80114103723.htm <-- One small example of studies that are confirming what I have pointed to above.

For me, this is precisely what the Bible points at when it talks about following the flesh rather than the Spirit (either Person of God -- OR -- the mental disposition gifted to us and imparted, implanted, renewed and transformed in our own minds). Nevertheless, the issue is plain: On one side is flesh (chemistry (lust) driven motivation) and on the other: Spirit of God (Mind of Christ in US as a result of His working and our focusing on what He does -- choosing to follow the thinking of God rather than the desires, lusts and appetites of the flesh).

So, what does all of this have to do with the news?

News people seem to have two agendas. First, they need to get paid and pay the bills. Money itself is a means to an end --> provides the raw material or power to provide for feeding of lusts. Lusts in this case can be as simple as maintaining food, clothing and sheltar. So, making money is a powerful motivator in the equation.

How do news people make money? Advertising mainly. The more readers and viewers come back to a particular news source, the more advertisers are willing to pay the news people to have their products and services advertised. This is just Good Business 101. I am not sharing anything new. I am merely "setting the table."

Beyond the money, the news people have learned to play upon the chemical lust reward system of you and I. The titles are revealing.

NOTICE: The Emotional Tone of the words and phrases in news article titles are never neutral. The tones are almost always something non-neutral: Confrontational, Opposing, Surreal, Hyper, Disgusting, Outlandish, Over-the-Top'ish and a host of other words and phrases anyone could come up with if they spent enough time.

What is the purpose of making the news article titles this way? I believe it is done for the purpose of stirring the chemical reward (lust) system and preys on people who are predisposed to follow and become addicted to their own chemical reward system. The purpose is to keep stoking the chemical fires of lust. The purpose understands that people get addicted to the chemical rewards for first: Reading the article titles, which produce a host of thought responses and then emotional responses. We then open the article and begin to read-N-feed.

The wording of the articles bring on more thought responses, which induce more emotion. The body responds automatically by producing reward chemicals and the feeding is ON!

NOTE: It does NOT matter what "side" of an issue we are on. For instance, it doesn't matter if you are a Conservative or a Liberal. Both sides of the issue are still human. Both sides still have a body. Both sides still have this chemistry thing tempting, egging, pressing, begging and vying for attention for the purpose of being fed. So, the emotional content to a Conservative: "Those damned Liberals!" is just as emotionally rewarding as "Global Warming" is the the tree-hugger Liberal. Right and wrong take a backseat to Lusts in the driver seat.

I am going to pull of some headline from the news right NOW and see what you think:

Saturday Showdown On the Strip, In the South

Woman Kills Self, 2 Children by Walking Onto Interstate

14 Arrested in Alleged Spain Terror Plot

College Wrestler Killed in Crash on Way to Meet

Police Find Five Dead in Submerged Car in Kentucky

Tom Ridge: Waterboarding is Torture

2 Crew Members Found Dead on Container Ship

Striking Writers May Resume Talks With Studios

Confrontation --> Showdown, Arrested, Striking, "May Resume Talks"

Sadness --> "Kills Self, 2 Children", "Wrestler Killed", "Police Find Five Dead", "Found Dead"

Morality --> "Waterboarding is Torture"

We feed off of the emotions. We get the thoughts, images, mental pictures and then the emtions result instantly from them JUST BY READING. In doing so, the body automatically responds. And what keeps us coming back? What keeps us opening the news sites on the internet? What keeps us turning on the television and switching to the news program (or any other show for that matter)?

Even as "Christians". There are plenty of Christians who are enslaved and bound to the chemistry set of their own body and wrap it up in a religious cliches, words, tones, dogmas and doctrines. We even feed off of, "We're right and THEY are GOING TO HELL!"

After realizing the truth of this happening in ME, I started asking myself: Ok Larry, if there is this Thought-->Emotion-->Lust link and machine and that machine just happens without me even trying, what am I to do? What can truly change by "Knowing Christ"; what is the REAL difference to be found in here?

For me, the change has come down to "Who is in the driver seat?" I cannot stop my body from responding chemically to my thoughts and emotions. However, what I can choose is what controls me? Is it the Mind of Christ in me, His Spirit (mental disposition and Person) in me -- OR -- is it the screaming of my flesh for more dopamine reward chemistry and irrational thoughts and irrational emotions?

How do I know what state I am in? Flesh or Spirit? The bible gives me the clues. Scriptures like Galatians 5 and others tell me the fruits (results) of getting, having and following after the thinking, mental disposition, inclination and path of God Himself birthed in me by His Spirit. It also points out the signs (results) of a person (me or you) living based on following after the lusts (chemistry set) of our bodies.

So -- back to the news. What keeps me coming back to the news, the computer news sites, the television news programs and so on? What keeps me in the movie theater and purchasing HBO and Cenimax, Stars and Encore on my cable box? What keeps me scanning the newpaper headlines? What keeps me listening to Air America or Rush Limbaugh, Neil Bortz and Sean Hannity? What keeps me going to Move-on dot Org and other such things? (I am using "me" pointing to us all). We return again and again and again because like that little mouse, we want to feed our flesh with more of the chemistry in us. We want to get high. The side of an issue doesn't matter so much as the motivator behind getting on that side to begin with.

Ask yourself: You're a Liberal or your a Conservative. You're a this or a that. Why? What keeps you on that side? What holds you there and causes you to put blinders on about the other "sides"? What causes the hostilities to rage? David asked, "Why do the heathen rage?" I'll tell you why-- because we are ALL human and we are ALL (without the rational divine Mind of Christ in us) enslaved to the lusts and chemistry sets of our flesh.

[HisMindinme]

They call up human emotions, they depend on it. It's like a car crash. You have to crane your neck to see what happened. News people are counting on us to crane our necks. I quit watching the news quite a while back because I simply couldn't stomach it any more.

As for your last paragraph, I think I'll leave it alone. I'd consider myself a conservative for several reasons which I won't go into here. . .

I could not agree more with the "crane our necks" view. You've said it well, I think.

Thanks for not barking down the conservative trail because it would only serve to distract. I am not wanting to "bash" either way, but to look through and past and beyond it to a more core and heart issue behind it.

[HisMindinme]

James 3:13-4:3

Who is wise and knowing among you? Let him show his works by his good behavior, in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and contention in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, beastly, devilish. For where jealousy and contention are, there is confusion and every foul deed. But the wisdom from above is firstly truly pure, then peaceable, forbearing, yielding, full of mercy and of good fruits, not partial and not pretended. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for the ones making peace. From where do wars and fightings among you come? Is it not from this, from your lusts warring in your members? You desire and do not have. You murder, and are jealous, and are not able to obtain. You fight and you war, and you do not have, because you do not ask. You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order that you may spend on your lusts.

Where I truly want to point is how there is a driver beneath what we think, feel, say and do. That driver can ONLY be:

1. Lusts (flesh, sin, appetites, desires, sensual, etc)

2. Spirit of God, Mind of Christ and THAT imparted and born in us.

The details above these two are important, but not as important as seeing who is sitting in the driver seat of our lives. The single and core critical element of living is to discern "Who is driving this ship?" (me, you, anyone). To get to that answer requires some self-examination AND some tools for discernment, some insight and light to see. It requires knowing WHAT to look for and HOW (clues) to recognize it.

[InternalFlame]

I wonder how far this applies...are all desires of the flesh inherently evil? Is going out to eat for some Pad Thai evil because you desire Thai food? What about desiring time to yourself to relax? Where is the line drawn?

I already feel guilty when I get myself some chocolate :\

[HisMindinme]

I wonder how far this applies...are all desires of the flesh inherently evil? Is going out to eat for some Pad Thai evil because you desire Thai food? What about desiring time to yourself to relax? Where is the line drawn?

I already feel guilty when I get myself some chocolate :\

Hahahaha ... Somewhere in here is conscience and the active presence of the Spirit of God in us (I think). God gave us this body we're in. I think He did so with a great goal and purpose. What I think has happened is this: We've got the wrong driver in the driver seat. The driver needs to be the Mind of God in us (implanted and imparted by His Spirit) -- Vs -- the whims and desires of the lusts of the flesh.

Jesus talked about picking up our cross daily, denying ourselves and following Him. I think what He means is that when we place our focus on the Mind of Christ birthed in us, when place our focus on His Spirit and the work (product) of His Spirit in us, when we put our focus on finding how He thinks -- AND THEN -- we follow after THAT instead of following the crying of our flesh for more "medication" -- when we live this way, the flesh is going to be denied, the flesh is going to suffer (i.e. "cross", pain, etc) and we will "follow after" the Spirit (or spirit -- mental disposition) of God in us instead.

Yes, our bodies will still respond to the mind of Christ in us by producing the chemistry. It will happen. The issue is: Who is guiding and Who is in control? The Mind of God in us -- OR -- the flesh and its lusts?

Look the the scriptures. Look to Christ Himself. Find what He thought and what He did and said based on what He thought. Look beyond the details of what He thought in each situation and look to the underlaying principle.

Jeus was about mercy. Jesus was about honesty. Jesus was about compassion. Jesus was about such things as this. Paul picks up how the fruits of the Spirit (the mental disposition of God born in us producing) love, peace, joy, long suffering and so on. It is juxtaposed against the flesh and the carnal mind.

For me, this is not about having all the answers, but about the journey of doing what Paul points to in 2 Cor 10: Tearing down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against "gnosis" of God: The Mind of God in us. Not that we're robots, but that our "mental pathways" work like His, we reason like He reasons, we discern like He does instead of with a mind that is enslaved to the chemistry set of our bodies.

I have spent more than 40 years building fortresses of thoughts and emotions in my heart. Each thought, each imagination (rational or more than likely -- irrational) are like bricks or stones in the fortress of my mind. This fortress has several goals:

1) Keep God out. Keep out Him, out His thinking and out His Spirit.

2) Set up ME AS GOD in me.

The second thing there is actually a dupe, a ruse and a lie. The real "king" of my life in this world without Christ is Satan Himself, living in guise and guile behind my thoughts, which are really his thoughts.

Joh 8:43 Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My Word.

Joh 8:44 You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.

This is about lusts. It was about lusts for the devil and it is about lusts for us. The lies (thoughts, imaginations) are built for the SOLE PURPOSE of feeding lusts.

[HisMindinme]

I wonder how far this applies...are all desires of the flesh inherently evil? Is going out to eat for some Pad Thai evil because you desire Thai food? What about desiring time to yourself to relax? Where is the line drawn?

I already feel guilty when I get myself some chocolate :\

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find.

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I exhort you as temporary residents and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.

I think the scripture is pretty clear. Again, the issue is this: Who is in the driver seat? The Mind of Christ in you -- OR -- the lusts of your flesh? The lusts of the flesh are clearly warring, at odds and contrary to the will, direction and purpose of the Mind of God, the deepest part of Him: His core. So, we find a war raging between the deep things of God and the lusts of our flesh.

I think the line is drawn around conscience, conviction, study and acceptance of being tried.

We're born into being enslaved to the lusts of our flesh. This is our natural state. The process of living in Christ is the process of an ever growing presence of His Mind in us and the tearing down of the Mind-Body(Lust) natural state and replacing it with a mind that is NOT enslaved.

In this life, I will NEVER run out of territory to conquer (my natural state being conquered by the Mind of Christ born in me and growing). So, the trap is to somehow validate my lust and say, "It's ok." What I ought to be saying is, "Look, there's more land to take! More of these natural thoughts enslaved to the lusts of my flesh to be torn down!" This is what Isreal was given to us for: an example. Instead, we're asking to "live in peace" with the inhabitants (thoughts enslaved to our flesh lusts). We're not called to live at peace and co-exist. We're called to an internal warfare. That internal warfare is to replace our broken and enslaved mind with His Mind.

That said -- We need to rest, so we do. We're designed to rest. This is NOT about being brutal or harsh. This is NOT about flaying our skin open with whips, starving ourselves, dressing in sackclothe and wailing in tears. It is about finding the Mind and purpose of Christ FIRST, denying the lusts of the flesh by means of and way of living in the Mind of Christ in us. Denying the flesh is not something we do in and of ourselves -- it comes as a product of living in His Mind in us.

He gives His Mind to us as He sees fit. It is not OUR choice, but His. Seek Him. Seek His Mind in yourself and then live from it. Conquer your flesh and lusts as He leads by His Spirit in you depositing the Mind of Christ in you (same mental disposition) and then living from that mind. In doing that, THEN you'll live from a place of godly warfare against your lusts.

The rest of you is unconquered. Accept that. Deal with it. Live with it. If you don't like it: Seek Him in you more and more. Study to show yourselve approved.

2Ti 2:15 Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

2Ti 2:16 But shun profane, vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

2Ti 2:17 And their word will eat like a gangrene; ...

[HisMindinme]

I wonder how far this applies...are all desires of the flesh inherently evil? Is going out to eat for some Pad Thai evil because you desire Thai food? What about desiring time to yourself to relax? Where is the line drawn?

I already feel guilty when I get myself some chocolate :\

Ask YOURSELF before the Spirit of God in you:

1. Are you willing to deny yourself chocolate from time to time? (fasting)

2. The money you spent on chocolate and Pad Thai, did God present you a choice to send it to a missionary instead?

3. The time you spent in the restraunt eating, did God present to you an opportunity to share the gospel instead?

I can clearly say to you for myself, I have LOTS of times when I have chosen to fill-up my own lusts (not just food). I am talking emotional and thoughtful. I am talking about putting and placing my focus on being angry at someone in my thoughts instead of being merciful to them. When I do that, my thoughts produce the chemical reactions that feed the lusts of my flesh for the dopamine or other "reward" chemicals. Now, what am I doing? Instead of being merciful to my brother or sister, I am spending the time and choices on my flesh. This is what James says when he talks about spending things on our lusts.

Going to a Pad Thai restraunt to eat seems to be making light or walking right by the whole point. The point is: Where do we place our focus? Are we focused on seeing our flesh for what it is and tearing down the idols on the landscape of our heart? The idols are the thoughts and imaginations we set up in our hearts, where we go to sit and ponder and think -- FOR THE PURPOSE OF -- feeding our flesh and lusts, because as we sit internally thinking, pondering, reliving, imagining, inventing and concocting, our bodies are busily responding chemically and getting "high!"

[Grungekid]

I think there are many factors that go into this. First and foremost, most people watch the news to stay informed about what is going on in the world around them. News is supposed to be balanced, objective, non-biased reporting of the facts, but it hasn't been about that for decades now. News is all about ratings now and getting the biggest number of viewers you can with the biggest hyped-up lead tags and the juiciest details.

Surprise, surprise: that has never actually changed. No one is without bias, that is part of being human, which is of course relative to what HisMindinme is saying.

As for your last paragraph, I think I'll leave it alone. I'd consider myself a conservative for several reasons which I won't go into here. . .

Why not?